Islanders 5 - 2 Lightning
Final
  for this game

Roloson, Lightning host Isles

Mar 22, 2011 - 3:07 PM (Sports Network) - Though they continue to earn points, victories have been hard to come by this month for the Lightning. They have had similar issues with the Islanders.

Tampa Bay hopes to earn a split of its season series with New York tonight when goaltender Dwayne Roloson faces his former club for the first time since a January trade that sent him from the Isles to the Bolts.

The Lightning have just two victories this month, going 2-4-4 in 10 games, and return to St. Pete Times Forum off a 1-0-3 road trip. By pushing teams past regulation, Tampa Bay has remained five points back of Washington for first place in the Southeast Division with a game in hand and three points behind Pittsburgh for fourth overall in the East.

Offense has been part of the problem as the Lightning have been held to a pair of goals or fewer in seven of their 10 games in March, while the defense has allowed more than three tallies just twice in that span. Both factors were in play on Saturday in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Senators.

Vincent Lecavalier and Dana Tyrell scored for the Bolts, while Roloson ended with 31 saves.

"It's tough [to lose] obviously. We needed two points," Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman said.

Roloson has certainly been doing his part. He is 14-9-4 with a 2.55 goals- against average and four shutouts in 27 games with Tampa Bay since being acquired from New York on Jan. 1. The 41-year-old was 6-13-1 with a 2.64 GAA in 20 games prior to the trade without a shutout.

Roloson was actually in net for the Islanders when these two clubs last squared off on Dec. 22 in New York and made 34 saves in a 2-1 overtime win. The Lightning fell to 1-0-2 versus the Isles this year, but have still won eight of the last 11 in this series played in Tampa.

Roloson is 4-2-0 with a tie and 2.27 GAA in his career versus New York.

One reason the Islanders dealt Roloson is because of the presence of the oft- injured Rick DiPietro, but he suffered a facial fractures in a fight with Pittsburgh goaltender Brent Johnson just a month after the trade and didn't return to action until Saturday's 4-3 shootout win over the Panthers.

DiPietro made 29 saves through overtime, including a stop of a breakaway in the extra frame, before stopping both skaters he faced in the shootout for his first victory since Jan. 15. P.A. Parenteau and Frans Nielsen had the goals for the Islanders in the tiebreaker.

"We have a lot of firepower up front," Parenteau said. "We kept doing what we were doing in the third and it paid dividends."

Michael Grabner scored his 30th goal of the season and Parenteau and Micheal Haley also scored in regulation for the Islanders, who halted a three-game slide and have points in nine of 10 games this month (5-1-4). However, New York is still 11 points back of a playoff spot with nine games to go.

New York is 1-1-2 on a five-game road trip that ends tonight.

DiPietro is 6-6-3 with a 2.67 GAA in his career versus the Lightning, including a 3-2 overtime victory on Oct. 21 at St. Pete Times Forum in which he made 28 saves on 30 shots faced.

Tampa Bay could again be without forward Simon Gagne due to a pinched nerve in his neck that caused him to miss Saturday's game. He is questionable for this contest due to the ailment, one that caused him to miss time earlier this season.






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